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Reconfigurable, Modular Dream Home
ssyladin writes: "CNN is reporting a new dream cyber home being designed by the Brits for use in Hong Kong. It combines smart home technologies of touch panels for lights, heating, water taps, with the ability to move the interior wall partitions around with a basic toolbox and about a half day of labor. No more LAN parties in the garage! The homes can also be built faster and with less waste too. Bit skimpy on the details, but its an exciting prospect if its ever finished." Concepts like this probably fill a lot of napkin doodles around the world -- what do you think this particular one should do differently?
Big Whoop.
This Old House did a show on modular housing in Japan, exact same thing. Only TOH did it years ago, and its been going on in Japan for years upon years. Each room is a module, you can move interior walls around easily, etc, etc.
PS: I live by X10 remotes.....
To me, that does not sound like a dream home, it sounds more like Ubiquitous version of the dream house featured in the movie Cube.
"You can control the Integer house.." - link
Cameras (evidently dark right now in Hong Kong) - link
I wish I could read more about the thing, but the pages aren't loading and it looks like we're going to burn it down!
by Rex Roberts. Published by M.Evans, 1964.
You'll never look at houses the same and his interior walls don't even necessarily need tools to move. Heck some of them aren't even technically walls although a stranger couldn't even tell.
This book should be required reading for anyone intending to build a house, especially architects.
KFG
Ever live in a mobile home, or a pre-constructed modular home? These are the same things, only made with movable walls (which inevitably will not be fastened down correctly).
You'll deal with wonders of sound transmission through 3/4 inch walls. "Listen to me piss into the toilet from across the house."
Multiple levels? "Listen to the cat piss on rug upstairs"
Got a leak? Don't bother repairing it, you'll have to replace the whole pre-fab panel.
These type of homes are an environmental nightmare. There is a reason they depreciate like a car. They are made to be disposed of after x years.
This is an overhyped, bad idea.
As someone who currently lives in a house with electric locks on all doors it still works fine in a california blackout. Here are our basic design criteria:
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* All doors that don't need to open in an emergency are fail secure. This means that with extended power loss or critical failure the doors stay locked.
* All doors that must allow egress during an emergency or critical failure should release bolts under failure (fail safe) and allow the door strike to function like a normal door (latch the unlatched strike). This unbolts the door, but also causes the standard positive latch to fall into the strike. This provides a secure door with manual egress
* garage door won't function anyway.
We have batteries that keep each door alive for about 2 hours. The front door has enough battery for about 6hrs. After that entry becomes a bit more complicated. After critical failure or extended blackout, entry requires a physical key in the one door that has a keyed knob. That door's bolts are fail safe so it should be unbolted, but key-latched if the system fails.
Normal entry is via proximity access control with a standard HID card.
Securitron Unlatch for electric strike control
http://www.securitron.com/SubCat.asp?Cat
SDC Electric Bolts
http://www.sdcsecurity.com/newsite/html/pr
HID Access control
http://www.hidcorp.com/